Name: Castle Schrade
Region: Great Frontier
Class: Artificial class
Location: The great and historic Castle Schrade, and indeed the Schrade Kingdom as well, can be found in the Great Frontier, directly southwest of the subregion known as the Great Forest. Although much of the Schrade Kingdom is largely taken over by grassland and small wooded areas, with only the occasional foliage-covered ruins poking up across the land here and there, the castle itself still remains relatively intact. Castle Schrade, if it can be considered its own subregion, is the closest subregion in the Great Frontier to the borders of the Minegarde region.
Climate: Long, long ago, the Schrade Kingdom was a lovely, temperate location. It was set in an area of the Great Frontier whose climate was not too hot, cold, damp, humid, or dry. The temperature and overall weather patterns were more or less perfect for the citizens. Although the entirety of the grassland that now makes up Schrade Kingdom still retains this docile climate, the castle itself does not.
Castle Schrade seems to be constantly in the middle of a brewing storm – a storm that hasn't yet struck or probably ever will strike, but just perpetually hangs over the castle grounds like a bad omen. Roiling clouds blot out the sun, and crimson lightning flashes constantly, briefly turning the deep black storm clouds bright purple. The fierce wind howls around the crumbling walls and through the desolate courtyards. But aside from the deafening shrieks of the wind and the ominous rumble of thunder, there are no other sounds. Ever since the disaster, Castle Schrade has been, and always will be, a place of silence.
The climate? With the arrival of the storm clouds and the fabled Elder Dragon all those hundreds of years ago, the climate has always been cold, dark, and dank. And the storm has never lifted once in that time.
Geography: Many people can easily describe Castle Schrade in just a few sentences – but as one of the few who have actually entered the castle and lived to tell of it, I feel obligated to give you every scrap of information about it that I can.
Castle Schrade is a truly massive castle, the heart of a once-great and thriving kingdom. It is said to be the biggest castle in history that is still standing today. However, it as well as its kingdom is dead, gone forever, never to rise again. It is completely barren and devoid of life, unlike other seemingly barren subregions such as Absolute Island. Inside the castle, one may find things left behind by the castle's future inhabitants.
It is also rumored that there exists a massive pile of treasure that sits in the immense throne room that once belonged to the King of Schrade Kingdom, but this hasn't been confirmed. If it is indeed a reality, then this treasure clearly belongs to something else now. Many people have tried to enter the castle over the centuries, but only one has ever returned, and he only saw a fraction of the castle. Everything we know about the landscape and structure of Castle Schrade comes from that sole eyewitness account.
What happened to Castle Schrade and the kingdom its inhabitants governed? Well, no one really knows, but we all have a very good guess.
Why did it happen? Again, no one really knows. However, it seems that someone apparently foretold the kingdom's destruction, because a document older than even Castle Schrade had been found lying amongst its ruins a few hundred years ago. It took the form of a song or poem, and it went like this;
"When the world is full of wyverns
The legend is revived
Meat is eaten, bone is crunched.
And blood is sucked up dry.
He burns the earth
And melts through iron.
He boils the rivers
And mows down trees.
He awakens the winds
And lights an inferno.
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destiny.
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destruction.
Call for help
Run for your lives
And don't forget to
Pray to the skies.
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destiny.
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destruction.
Fatalis, Fatalis
Heaven and Earth are yours.
Fatalis, Fatalis
Heaven and Earth are yours."
The song predicted the coming of a mysterious wyvern (which we now know to actually be an Elder Dragon) that would destroy the entire kingdom and leave no survivors. Apparently, no one took it seriously and did nothing to prevent this from coming true – because at the beginning of the monster war, Fatalis came.
Actually, we're not sure when this destruction happened and what caused it. But as I said before, we have a pretty good guess.
Local Species: Fatalis.
That's it. Nothing else exists here except the Legendary Black Dragon herself. No plants grow, no insects buzz, no birds sing. The only thing that ever moves are the flags that fly from the towers and the Elder Dragon living within.
It has been rumored for a very long time, probably ever since Schrade Kingdom was destroyed, that Fatalis had made the ruined castle her home. And it has remained that way for hundreds of years, all the way to the present day where war no longer rages across the known world. But I visited Castle Schrade one day and confirmed the rumor. I met the Legendary Black Dragon and lived to tell of it.
No one knows why she destroyed Schrade Kingdom, if she indeed was the culprit. All anyone knows is that she lives there in peace, fixing the walls when they start breaking down, sleeping amongst piles of treasure, and raiding nearby villages for food every week or so. My assumption is that it had something to do with the monster war – Schrade Kingdom might have been the site of one of the first, and biggest, societies of hunters, and Fatalis eventually swooped down and put an end to them and their killings of countless monsters.
Ever since then, the only humans Fatalis has harmed, supposedly, are those that were sent to go slay her. Because none ever returned, the existence of Fatalis was assumed to be a myth for the entirety of the monster war. Now we know differently, and we happily leave her alone and with the knowledge that the world is once again tranquil. I'm sure that she won't be flattening any more kingdoms anytime soon.
Summary: Castle Schrade is all that is left of a great and successful kingdom. The only hint we have of its demise is an old poem that predicts the appearance of the very Elder Dragon that still lives there today. The castle no longer belongs to humans – instead, it is the home of one of the most powerful monsters in the known world. We only have a single surviving eyewitness account of the castle, so it is still a huge mystery to us. It is a gravestone for an entire civilization, and a reminder of the consequences of the monster war that has so plagued us until recently.
-.-.-.-.-.
Locations are never as fun to write about as monsters, but I still enjoyed writing this chapter. I'm not a fan of Fatalis, but I still think Castle Schrade has a lot of cool and mysterious backstory to it that I tried to bring to light.
So how'd I do? Review and wait patiently for the next chapter, where we look at a certain pair of Sea Gods…
Next chapter: Ceadeus and Goldbeard Ceadeus!